


angel of small death and the codeine scene

by msbrokenbrightside



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: F/M, Kissing, La Petite Mort Quite Literally, M/M, Mentions of Vesh, Multi, Non-Explicit Sex, OT3, Reflection, Short & Sweet, life and death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-02
Updated: 2017-02-02
Packaged: 2018-09-21 15:16:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 431
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9554618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/msbrokenbrightside/pseuds/msbrokenbrightside
Summary: It feels like tempting fate, Vax thinks, kissing Kashaw. When he speaks to Keyleth about it she agrees, a chill down her spine, whenever she presses even a peck to Kashaw’s lips.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Listen I’ve got an aesthetic for life and death and that song and Kashaw fit too well for it. (Along with this ship.)
> 
> ([“Angel Of Small Death & The Codeine Scene” by Hozier](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bmp4QWzHak))

It feels like tempting fate, Vax thinks, kissing Kashaw. When he speaks to Keyleth about it she agrees, a chill down her spine, whenever she presses even a peck to Kashaw’s lips.  
  
Kashaw may be a cleric of life but there’s always the taste of death when they kiss. His breath is sweet and even though he can kiss hard, mean in all the right ways, it’s still a comforting kiss. His true nature bleeding through the gruff and bluster. But the trace of death is always there, lingering.  
  
Vax asks Keyleth if he tastes the same, when he kisses her. She replies that sometimes he does: after a battle, after praying. Vax realizes and admits that Keyleth herself will taste that way too, if she uses blight or any other necromancy spell. After time passes however, it goes away. She returns to her roots, tasting like flowers and like crisp fall air. Vax the same, Keyleth says, he will again taste like nothing, as an assassin should.  
  
But Kashaw’s kisses always have death in them.  
  
Neither of them are unintelligent enough not to know why.  
  
Keyleth and Vax both agree not to tell Kashaw this, not yet at least. They don’t like to keep secrets from him but they believe it necessary. It took long enough for the three of them to reach this point, to come together, unafraid of hurting feelings. If they told Kash that every time they kissed they could feel a presence of death he will run. Kashaw’s heart is guarded, not missing, and he cares too much to put them in Vesh’s path.  
  
Which begs questions of them both. How long will Kashaw’s wife lay dormant? How many kisses can either of them take before she comes for them all? And also:  
  
Is Kashaw’s kiss worth the wrath of a god?  
  
That night after they agree to not tell Kashaw they share a glance. As Kashaw shudders under their hands, flushed and panting, Keyleth’s eyes are alight with fire that Vax is sure matches his own. It’s brief--they both enjoy watching Kashaw too much to linger, since he is so new to them both in this way--but the look they share assures Vax that they agree.  
  
Keyleth presses her lips to the right corner of Kash’s lip and Vax the left. They feel their breath stolen, bodies grow cold, and their senses numb. Kashaw gasps, his own breath filtering into their mouths--sweet as always and full of life--and find, as they can breathe again, that these small deaths are worth it.

**Author's Note:**

> [I'm also on tumblr!](http://msbrokenbrightside.tumblr.com/) (Here's more of [this ship](http://msbrokenbrightside.tumblr.com/tagged/ot3:-life-and-death-gradient) on my blog.) Let me know what you think here or on tumblr.


End file.
